The present invention relates to wireless phone technology. More specifically, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for connecting incoming wireless phone calls to analog phone lines while the wireless phone is recharging in its docking base.
Currently, when the batteries of a cellular phone are recharging the phone loses an important part of its utility, i.e., its portability. In some cases, the charging unit or docking base allows the cellular phone to remain on and to receive incoming transmissions. However, unless the user is in close proximity to the docking base she is not likely to hear the phone ring.
In addition, while some proponents of deregulating the telecommunications industry envision increased competition for providing local telephone service, the lack of available transmission resources in local markets presents a significant barrier to many potential entrants.
It is therefore desirable to provide a method and apparatus by which transmissions received by a cellular phone may be routed to the internal analog phone lines at a user's home or business without conflicting with calls routed from the user's local phone service provider. With such technology the user could receive cellular calls on his home phone. The user could, in fact, forego subscribing to the local phone company and use the cellular phone and network for local service, thus having a more simple, integrated phone service. The other side of the equation is, of course, that long distance carriers who have cellular networks could use such technology to enter the local service market without having to install a local hardware infrastructure.